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Slavery started in America
Apox. 20 kidnapped African Americans were sold into slavery as indentured servants in the British North American colonies, along with some whites. -
Legalization of slavery
Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery. It was also the center of the slave trade throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. -
Virginia enacts laws
Virginia enacts laws stating that if a child is born to an enslaved woman then the child will inherit her slave status. Men who owned slave women would make more slaves out of them. Slave women were subjected to sexual abuse. -
Bacon's Rebellion
In Virginia black slaves and the indentured servants came together in the first rebellion in the American colonies called Bacon's Rebellion. This was started by Nathaniel Bacon who was a Virginia planter. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/bacons-rebellion.htm -
Virginia Slave Code
The Virginia slave codes of 1705 were enacted laws to regulate the interaction between slaves and citizens. Some laws were:
1. Forbade slaves and colors from physically attacking whites.
2. Defined slaves as real estate
3. Allowed masters to kill slaves during punishment https://owlcation.com/humanities/Slavery-in-America-Slave-Codes-in-Virginia-The-1705-Virginia-Slave-Act -
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida allowed freedom to runaway slaves. Spanish ruled Florida up until 1821, and by the 1730's Spanish Florida was a savior to runaway slaves from Georgia and the Carolina's. https://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/4861 -
Slavery was abolished
Slavery was abolished as a result of the passing of the 13th Amendment which was signed by President Abraham Lincoln. -
15th Amendment
“The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the "right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." (loc.gov,2018) https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html -
Plessy v. Ferguson: Separate but equal doctrine
This law enables Jim Crow laws to be practiced in America.
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced segregation mainly in the south. -
Civil Rights Act 1964
“The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement.” (History, 2010) History.com Staff. (2010). Civil Rights Act of 1964. Retrieved April 12, 2018, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act
